Test Valencia: Navarro newly confident after final day on home turf

The first test of 2018 at Valencia draws to a close for Jorge Navarro and Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto3 as the final day of action saw better conditions ander mild temperatures at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. The 22-year-old rider from the nearby town of Pobla de Vallbona was able to make the most of the last two sessions of the day as he completed 57 laps with a best time of 1’36.977.

Navarro and the team worked mainly on the set-up of the Kalex machine #9 and found some interesting changes to the settings, which enabled the Spaniard to display a consistent pace with used tyres and some valuable lap-times, too.

Today’s mood in the Gresini Moto2 garage was a positive one – despite the lack of track-time that characterised this test – and now the team will prepare for the next test on the calendar, scheduled at Jerez de la Frontera.

JORGE NAVARRO #9

“We sat out the first session due to low temperatures, but the goal for the second one was to get back some confidence on the bike after yesterday’s crash: we set a few good lap-times and in the last outing we made some changes to improve the manoeuvrability of the bike. The changes brought more consistency of performance and I have to say I felt a lot better on the bike. The lap-time in the end was not that competitive but we did it on used tyres. Obviously we’re kind of far from the quickest riders at this track, but it wasn’t the right day to take any chances. We leave Valencia in a good mood and we’ll now focus on Jerez.”